Water pistol



J. GORA ET AL Sept. 4, 1951 WATER PISTOL Filed May 21, 1947 PatentedSept. 4, 1951 WATER PISTOL John Gora and John Dale Scarbrough,Wyandotte, Mich., assignors to All-Metal Products Company, Wyandotte,Mich., a corporation of Delaware Application May 21, 1947, Serial No.749,526

2 Claims. (Cl. 222-79) ject related to that last stated is to providesuch a repeating water gun incorporating a water tank from whichrelatively small quantities of water may be drawn for successivedischarges as above indicated, the discharges being effected by novelmeans including a piston and cylinder and a storage tank, no valvingmeans whatever being required between the cylinder and the tank, and theentire mechanism incorporating only a single valve, which is so arrangedas to close the discharge orifice of the cylinder at all times exceptwhile the trigger is actually being pulled.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a toy water gun soconstructed that although the external casing, preferably formed tosimulate a hand weapon, may be economically stamped of light gauge sheetsteel, those of the internal part which are contacted by water areformed of non-rusting materials such as inexpensive molded plastic, theplastic components and other internal elements being properly positionedwithin the casing by the interfitted configuration of these parts and ofthe portions of the casing with which they engage so that no specialholding means i required to maintain the proper relative positioning ofthe working parts.

Still another object is to provide a water-discharging toy having novelmeans for drawin successive charges of water from a storage tank to adischarge cylinder and for effecting discharge of the individual chargesupon actuation of a trigger.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent upon consideration of thepresent disclosure in its entirety.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view principally in substantially central longitudinalsection of a toy water pistol constructed in accordance with the presentinvention, certain internal portions being shown in side elevation;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on the line 2-2of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing only the front portions ofthe gun and with the operating parts in a different position; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional detail taken substantially on the line 4-i of Fig.1 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawing, reference character l0 designatesgenerally a casing indicated as formed of sheet metal and which may, asshown, be contoured to simulate a hand weapon or an imaginary orfuturistic version of such a weapon. The casing is interiorly hollow,and includes a hand grip portion l2 adjacent which is a trigger l4projectin upwardly into and pivoted within the casing as upon atransverse pin 15. The casing may also include a forward portion itcontoured to generally simulate a barrel, and a rearwardly extendingoverhanding portion IB contoured to simulate generally the portion of anautomatic weapon which carries the slide and other related parts. Theportion It serves as a housing for a water tank 20, which also projectsover and partially into the hand grip l2. The water tank may be formedof molded plastic and provided with a filler opening 22 having a neckportion 24 which extends upwardly through an opening 25 in the top ofthe casing. If desired, the tank may also carry an upwardly extendingfinlike member 25 formed of colored plastic or other ornamental materialadapted to project above the casing through an opening 28 and serving asan ornamental representation of a back sight. The sight portion 25' andfiller neck 24 will be seen to provide interlocking engagement with thecasing tending to prevent dislodgment of the tank, downward movement ofthe tank within the gun being prevented by the fact that the tankprojects into the rear portion it of the casing.

An integral nipple 30 extends forwardly from a lower portion of the,tank within the casing and a tube formed of rubber or other suitablematerial and designated 32 is fitted upon the nipple and extendsforwardly to a second nipple 34 projecting downwardly and rearwardlyfrom a cylinder 35 mounted in the forward extremity of the barrelportion It. The cylinder 35 is open at its rear end, arranged upon anaxis substantially parallel with respect to that of the barrel portion,and is provided with a centrally disposed front opening 36. Cylinder 35may also be formed of plastic material, and the "passage 38 whichextends through the nipple 34 opens into the interior of the cylinder ata point substantially midway of the length thereof, defining awater-inlet port 33. The forward extremity of the barrel portion I6 iscontoured to fit the exterior of the cylinder snugly, the cylinderengaging portion thus defined comprising a reduced cylindrical sectionI! of the casing. The nipple 34, projecting downwardly behind thereduced section ll, positively lock the cylinder against forwardmovement.

A muzzle cap is fitted upon and projects forwardly from the cylinder 35having a rearwardly extending cylindrical flange portion 42 whichoverlies and is rigidly attached to the front extremity of the cylinder35, to which it may be secured by cement. The rear end of the flange 42abuts the forward extremity of the reduced muzzle portion ll of thebarrel, so that when the sections 35, 49 are secured together they arepositively locked against rearward movement by engagement between flange42 and reduced muzzle portion ll. The portion of muzzle cap it whichextends forwardly from the flange 42 is reduced to provide a shoulder 4which partly overlies the front end of cylinder 35.

The rim portion 37 of a fiat washer-like resilient valve member 55 isretained between shoulder 25- and the front of the cylinder 35. napvalve portion 66 which is integral with the rim portion =2? which isdefined by a cut-out area 8 comprising an incomplete circle which soseparates the central. valve portion 36 from the rim portion 4? that thecentral valve portion is in effect hinged by the integral neckconstituted by the portion of the valve disk which is not cut out. Thevalve disk assembly thus formed may be comprised of resiilent materialsuch as rubber, and it will be noted that the diameter of the valveportion 36 is somewhat less than the internal diameter of thecylindrical opening ii in muzzle cap Opening 4| is coaxial with thecylinder fhe valve portion is urged against the head of the cylinder 35,to seal the opening 36, by a helical compression spring 52 housed withinthe chamber ti in muzzle cap 46 and reacting at its forward end againstthe front wall of the cap, which is centrally pierced by a small hole 55which determines the diameter of the water jet.

A piston is reciprocable within the cylinder 25 and may be of doublecupped configuration as shown and actuatable by means of a rod 56secured to the piston and projecting rearwardly therefromsubstantiallyaxially through the bar rel porti of the casing. The pistonmay be formed ii- E13 piece of rubber or rubber-like material EllOWi'l.The rear extremity of the rod 68 is bent laterally as indicated at 5'1,such laterally bent portion engaging within an opening in trigger armti], and pivotal connection being thereby provided between the rod 55and the arm 65!, which will be seen to form an integral upwardcontinuation of the trigger I l lying within the casing.

torsion spring 62 wrapped about the trigger pin l5 has one arm 53reacting against the tri ger arm i i to urge it and the connected piston55 rearwardly, the other arm 66 of the spring reacting do\=. 'nwardlyagainst the bottom of the casing.

The tri ger i and trigger arm 6:: may comprise a unitary member ofchannel section, This part may be folded from a strip of sheet metalwhich is preliminarily pierced as indicated at 65, the pierced openingbeing formed inthe portion of the sheet which becomes the bight of thesubsequently folded channel. The side webs of the channel-sectionedtrigger and trigger arm assembly are also formed outwardly upon eitherside of the pierced area to enlarge the opening, and the tube 32 extendsthrough such opening without interfering with free movement of thetrigger and arm.

It is believed that the operation of the gun will be apparent from theforegoing, but it may be briefly summarized as follows: When the triggeris pulled, the initial forward movement of the piston 55 closes off thewater inlet port 33, trapping in the cylinder the water which haspreviously flowed thereinto. Continued forward movement of the pistondrives the water out through the opening 36, valve portion 46 beingforced open as indicated in Fig. 3 and the water being thereby ejectedthrough the hole 54. When the trigger is released to permit the pistonto return to the position shown in Fig. l, the valve portion 46 closesimmediately as the piston starts back, and rearward movement of thepiston accordingly reduces the pressure within cylinder 35 belowatmospheric, so that as soon as the front skirt of the piston clears theport 533, a quantity of water rushes into the cylinder to tend toequalize the pressure differential thus created between the cylinder andthe tank it.

It will be seen that if the gun is held approximately horizontal or withthe muzzle pointed downwardly, which are the most common positions inwhich the pistol would be carried and held by the user, the hydrostatichead tends to keep the cylinder 35 full, although it will also beappreciated that since there is no inlet for air into the cylinder, thewater will remain trapped therein for a long period of time in anyevent, ready for discharge upon the subsequent actuation of the triggerin the manner previously described.

It will be apparent that various modifications and changes may be madewithout departing from the fair and intended scope of the subjoinedclaims.

We claim:

1. In a liquid discharging gun construction, a hollow casing having abarrel portion terminating in a muzzle, a hand grip portion, and ahollow casing section overlying said hand grip portion, a liquid storagetank roused at least partly within said hollow casing section, acylinder located within said barrel portion adjacent to the muzzle, apiston reciprocable within the cylinder, a trigger movably carried bythe casing, a piston-actuating arm within the casing actuatable by thetrigger, a liquid conduit connecting the tank to the cylinder, a portionof said tani: being interfitted with said casing to retain the tankagainst movement in one direction, and a filler portion carried by saidtank projecting through and from said casing and restraining said tankagainst movement in another direction with respect to the casing.

2. In a liquid discharging gun construction, a hollow casing having abarrel portion terminating in a muzzle, a hand grip portion, and ahollow casing section overlying said hand grip portion, a liquid storagetank housed at least partly within the hollow casing section, a cylinderlocated within said barrel portion adjacent to the muzzle, arrangedsubstantially parallel to the barrel and having an opening facingrearwardly with respect thereto, a piston reciprocable within thecylinder, a trigger pivoted in said casing and projecting downwardlytherefrom adjacent the hand grip portion, such trigger having an armprojecting upwardly into the casing between said tank and cylinder, aliquid conduit connecting the tank to the cylinder, link means extendinglongitudinally through said barrel portion and 5 connecting said arm tosaid piston, the outer end of said cylinder projecting beyond the muzzleportion and being provided with an outlet opening, check valve meansnormally closing said outlet opening but adapted to be opened bypressure within the cylinder, and a muzzle cap portion secured to theprojecting portion of said cylinder and enclosing said valve andprovided with a discharge orifice.

JOHN GORA.

JOHN DALE SCARBROUGH.

6 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file orthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 608,666 Garrett Aug. 9, 18981,223,655 Arden Apr. 24, 1917 2,060,297 Fox Nov. 10, 1936 2,109,589Horwitt Mar. 1, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 355,763 GreatBritain Feb. 20, 1930

